John "Cut and Run' Edwards

Former vice president candidate John Edwards is the latest Democrat to publicly call for the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq. His idea? Pull out 40,000 today.

The former U.S. senator from North Carolina told reporters America should “make it clear (to Iraqis) we are leaving, and the best way is to start leaving. We should take 40,000 combat troops out now.”

Edwards has said he regretted his vote as a U.S. senator authorizing President Bush to declare war in Iraq. He said Saturday that he would ask the country’s military leaders for a strategy “to have the (rest of the) troops out in roughly 12 to 18 months.”

“There is no chance other countries in the world will help Iraq as long as we are an occupying force,” he said.

Each time I hear another Democrat whine about Iraq, I think of our brave troops who continue to fight for Democracy while they are bombarded with morale crushing comments from “leaders” like Edwards.

And it sends chills up my spine to think that this man, who today backs surrender, could have stood within a heartbeat of the presidency.